Plant-based Toothbrush Fights Plastic Consumption

The Bamboo Toothbrush is the world’s first plant-based toothbrush. It is made of organic, giant Moso Bamboo from China and bio-based bristles.

Brush with Bamboo provides eco-friendly toothbrushes to shops and retailers across the world. Every component of the toothbrush (and packaging) is bio-based: bristles, handle, wrapper, and box. The handle is bio-degradable and made out of organic, giant Moso Bamboo from China without the use of pesticides or fertilizers. The castor bean oil bristles, made in the USA, are bio-based and made up of 62% castor oil and 38% nylon (plastic-based), which makes it one of the most eco-friendly toothbrushes out there.

The company buys the organic bamboo from one site in China that has a long history of bamboo craftsmanship. Before carving, they firstly boil then dry the bamboo using an oven heated by burning the offcuts from the bamboo carving process.

Why you should care

The average US citizen consumes four plastic toothbrushes every year, totalling around one billion toothbrushes annually, which either go to landfill, are incinerated, or end up in the natural environment due to improper disposal. Brush with Bamboo offers advice on how to properly dispose of the toothbrush after use, where everything except the bristles can be recycled or reused. If scaled, this could create a dramatic reduction in total waste volumes.

How the Global Goals are addressed

Responsible consumption and production

Avoiding plastic packaging and fertilisers during cultivation, Brush with Bamboo ensures an efficient use of natural resources and environmentally sound management of chemicals.

Life below water

Toothbrushes and other common-place plastic items have been found in the diets of marine birds, and fragments are often fed to chicks. Brush with Bamboo shows how natural products can be a real alternative to plastic.